Come and Go
by Kromatick
Summary: A series of one-shots detailing specific parts of the Mechro/Hunted timeline. Each will have a different theme and will focus on many different characters.
1. The Game Has Changed

**A/N: Hellooooo! Right, well, welcome to the first one shot in what will be a series of one shots detailing random parts of the Mechro/Hunted timeline. Some of them may be scenes that have happened, but more detailed, or scenes that have not happened at all. Some may have sad themes, like this one, or more action packed.**

**I had this idea rattling around in my head for quite some time, and I just had to write it.**

**Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this one shot! It's set just after the Vault Hunters get back from Control Core Angel. Also, Handsome Jack may seem OOC, but it's just for the sake of this one-shot.**

**Enjoy! :)**

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_"All humanity is one undivided and indivisible family. I cannot detach myself from the wickedest soul."_

_ -Mahatma Ghandi_

* * *

Angel's recent death had shaken up every Vault Hunter, whether they showed it or not. Some were noticeably sadder than others, and some were completely expressionless. It was hard not to be affected by a death like that. While each Vault Hunter had slaughtered hundreds of bandits each, it was still a hard thing to witness. They had ended the life of an innocent girl who had been held captive for years. A few Vault Hunters tried to console themselves by saying it was a mercy killing, but it didn't count for much. Not to mention Roland's death shortly after, along with Lilith's capture. All of these things combined were hard enough to take in, and even harder to live with.

Now, the remaining Vault Hunters sat in the headquarters of the Crimson Raiders. Everyone was here: Axton, Maya, Zer0, Salvador, Gaige, Mordecai and Brick. Each had picked a spot in the room and just sat down, thinking to themselves. Nobody said anything for the longest time, they had nothing to say.

Brick and Mordecai were probably the worst off, having to deal with the death of their close friend Roland as well as the capture of another one of their friends. The rest pitied them greatly, they had been dealt quite a bad hand back there.

Axton were both sitting on one of the bottom beds, with their backs against the wall. Maya was resting her head on Axton's right shoulder, and Axton had his arm around her. She had been crying heavily a while ago. Witnessing one of her Siren sisters being killed was bad enough, but being the one who killed her was a lot worse. While she had managed to get a hold of herself, she still cuddled close to Axton, a depressed look on her face.

Axton kept himself together well, more for Maya's sake than his own. The battle-hardened commando had seen much worse during his time in the military, but watching everyone else's reaction was a completely different story. He felt a lump in his throat when he saw Gaige walk out of Marcus's store room on her own, crying her eyes out. He wanted to help or say something, but he was too busy with Maya at that point to really do anything. He figured he'd leave the teenager to her own thoughts for a while. Then again, maybe that wasn't the best idea…

Salvador and Zer0 were the only two who seemed to have taken the deaths in their stride. They had both stood slightly away from the group while Angel was dying. Salvador had a completely blank expression the whole time, while Zer0's mask displayed no emoticon of any sort. However, the others could have sworn they saw a red '**:(' **coming from Zer0's mask as they were leaving Marcus's store. Nobody could really tell what the assassin was feeling, if he was feeling anything. The same went for Salvador.

Salvador was sitting on an office chair, with his feet up on Tannis' desk. His head was tipped down and he looked as though he was trying to sleep. Zer0, on the other hand, was leaning against a wall beside the stairs, staying perfectly still. The assassin just stared across the room at the opposite wall, his head not moving in the slightest.

However, out of everyone who had witnessed the death, Gaige was the one who was worst off out of them all. It was hard for the teenager to see another girl who was about her age being killed right in front of her. Even though she had witnessed the death of Marcie Holloway first hand, this was different. This was someone she actually liked and felt sympathy for. Besides, Marcie hadn't been locked up for her whole life by her own father. Even for a girl who had killed countless numbers of people herself, this was too much for her. She began shaking and tearing up as soon as Angel's body went limp. Gaige also had almost no reaction to anything that happened afterwards. But, as soon as they were teleported to Marcus's shop, she completely lost it. She couldn't hold the tears in anymore. The tears streamed down her face. She made no attempt to stop crying, she probably couldn't have even if she tried. The worst part of this was that there was nobody there to comfort her. The only people who would, Axton and Maya, were too busy with each other to do anything, and Zer0 and Salvador really weren't the type for that kind of thing. They were all on the same boat here.

The fact that she deeply missed her parents only added to her sadness. If her dad was here, he'd comfort her. She would have felt so much better if he was there, but he wasn't. So, instead of getting a hug or any form of consolation, Gaige just walked ahead of everyone straight out of the shop, crying heavier than she had in a long time. She didn't really care what the Vault Hunters thought of her at that moment. She walked into the Crimson Raider's HQ and collapsed on to one of the beds, where she buried her face in the pillow and began sobbing into it. After a minute, she heard the rest of the Vault Hunters come in. Again, nobody said anything to her, they just let her be. She herself wasn't sure if she even wanted anyone's company at the moment besides her dad. She would do anything to have him here, now.

Ten minutes later, she managed to sit herself up, leaning back on the wall and wrapping her arms around her knees. The tears had just about stopped, and she was biting her lip and looking straight ahead at nothing in particular. Every so often, she would let out a sigh or a sniff, causing a few of the people in the room to look over at her.

Eventually, she decided she couldn't take any more of this. She felt she had to go and do something or else the sadness would drive her insane. She wanted to be on her own anyway, at least for a while. So, without any warning, she quickly stood up and ran through the open door of the Raider's HQ. She was out and into the street before she heard Axton calling after her.

"Hey, Gaige! Wait!" he called, sliding Maya's arm off him and standing up. He ran out the door after Gaige. He entered into the street just in time to see Gaige enter the building that housed the fast-travel station. The teenager ran up and hit the button to activate the station. Without looking, she chose a destination at random, and within seconds, she was gone.

Axton entered the room just in time to see the last of the blue light from the fast travel fade away. He had no idea where she had gone, and he was not prepared to go searching all over Pandora for her. Not yet, anyway. All he could do was hope that she would eventually return.

"Goddammit…" he cursed, and then, with a sigh, he began walking back towards the HQ.

* * *

When Gaige reached her destination, she had no clue where she was. She was in an area she had never been to before. The sky was covered in ash, and volcanoes dotted the area. While lava spilled out from the volcanoes and flowed around a bit, there was also a purple substance embedded in the ground. Gaige reckoned it was Eridium. Thanks to the lava, the place was also incredibly hot. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to have picked a random place.

There was a Catch-A-Ride station right next to where she appeared, along with a bounty board next to it. She decided she would do a mission to take her mind off everything. It was dangerous to do missions alone, but she would see if there was an easy one.

She walked up to the bounty board and activated it. It only contained one mission, entitled 'Kill Yourself'. She frowned at the name but accepted it anyway, wanting to know more about the job. Suddenly, Handsome Jack's voice came over her ECHO.

"Oh, it's you… Gaige, right?" Handsome Jack asked, his tone a lot more depressed than usual, "Look, I will pay you to kill yourself. I got this great spot all picked out for ya. Think about it."

With that, he was gone. Gaige's HUD showed a marker a couple of hundred metres away. While Gaige had no intention of killing herself, she decided to go there anyway, just to check it out. She walked over to the Catch-A-Ride and spawned a runner for herself. She wasn't the greatest driver, but she didn't have much of a choice at that moment.

She made the slow and steady drive over to the location and got out of her vehicle. She could see a cliff hanging above her, that dropped off into God knows what. She climbed a ladder to get to the platform that was on top of the cliff. Once she reached the top, she just about saw a bandit sprint to the edge and jump off.

"I'M GONNA BE RIIIIICH!" he shouted as he plummeted to his doom.

Gaige rolled her eyes at the bandit's stupidity. Then, she heard Handsome Jack's voice again.

"So, you can call the Hyperion Suicide Prevention Hotline from the phone right there, and get nothing, or you can jump off the cliff and become my bitch! And also, y'know… get paid." He said.

While Gaige had planned to walk straight up to the phone and call the hotline, she found herself walking to the edge of the platform. She stopped in front of the edge and looked over. It was a sheer drop into the sea and a flow of lava, or, in other words, certain death.

She stepped backwards and looked around. She saw a small, folding chair placed right beside the edge. She sighed, and then sat down in the small chair, looking out at the view. There were a few mountains in the distance, and the sun was just setting behind them. Pandora, while dangerous, could be incredibly beautiful at times. She still wanted off this planet more than anything. She wanted to go home.

She wasn't even sure why she was still here. She could have probably left by now. They only thing that was keeping her here was their quest to take down Jack. However, Gaige didn't feel like it was her fight. Besides Jack trying to kill them, and then trying to take over Pandora, nothing he did affected her directly. She felt like she had been caught up in someone else's war.

"You… uh… gonna jump off, or what?" Handsome Jack asked over Gaige's ECHO.

With another sigh, she raised the ECHO to her face to reply to him. "Probably not," She replied, sadness still in her voice as well.

"Ah, dammit," Jack grunted, "Thought I had you there. Perhaps if you shot yourself?"

"No, Jack."

"How about letting a bandit shoot you?"

"…No…"

"What if I got you a cyanide pill-" Jack tried to say, but was interrupted by a loud sniff from the other side.

Another wave of depression washed over Gaige, as everything sank in once again. Being berated by this guy to kill herself also wasn't helping. She felt tears coming again, except this time she tried to hold them back, with little success. Gaige ended up openly sobbing into the ECHO device, which left Jack feeling a little confused.

"Uhh, was it something I said?" Jack asked.

Gaige could barely hear him over the sound of her own sobbing. "N-no…" she said shakily.

Jack was feeling a strange mix of emotions. On one hand, Gaige was a Vault Hunter, the people he hated most in the world, even if it really wasn't her choice. On the other hand, hearing a young, innocent girl crying prompts some sympathy, no matter who they are or what they have done.

"Uh, are you… ah… okay?" Jack said sceptically.

Gaige didn't have to reply to him, but she found herself doing so anyway. "I-I… wanna go home…" she cried. She then just thought about what she had just said. Why the hell did she just tell him that? She kind of wished she could take it back.

Up in the Hyperion moonbase, Jack sat at his huge desk inside his office. He had his ECHO device in his hands, and was leaning forward in his chair, his back bent over slightly. This was the last thing he expected to happen when he thought of paying a Vault Hunter to kill themselves.

Jack was still trying to put his finger on why he was feeling a pang of sympathy towards Gaige, considering he himself had just lost his only daughter.

Then it struck him. That was exactly it. Gaige completely reminded him of Angel. There were a lot of similarities between the two girls. Jack then wondered what it would be like if Angel was in Gaige's position. He felt a lump in his throat and he put his head down on his desk. He had no idea what to do at this point.

"Jack?" Gaige's voice came back over his ECHO.

Her voice made him bring his head back up off the desk. He'd had a complete change of heart compared to five minutes ago. He slowly raised his ECHO device to talk to Gaige again.

"Gaige…" Jack said quietly, "You don't have to… y'know… kill yourself. Just go."

Back down on Pandora, Gaige raised an eyebrow, surprised at Jack's sudden change of heart. She nodded slowly, knowing that Jack couldn't see her, before standing up and walking over to the phone. She pressed the button to call the Hyperion Hotline. She didn't stay around to hear what the Hotline had to say, she just walked back to her vehicle. Just before she got into the runner, she heard Jack's voice again.

"Gaige?" he asked.

"Yeah?" Gaige responded.

"Still gonna kill you," Jack said flatly.

For the first time in hours, Gaige allowed herself to laugh quickly. That was more like the Jack she knew. "Right back at ya, Jack," she said with a slight smile, and shut off her ECHO device.

She climbed into the driver's seat of her car and began the drive back to the fast travel station so she could get back to Sanctuary.

She couldn't get everything that Jack had said out of her head. It seemed like those few minutes were going to stay with her for quite a long time.

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**A/N: Well, hope you guys enjoyed that! Make sure to review if you did/didn't and tell me why :)**

**I know I promised to write about what happened to Marshall, that's coming next, trust me. Also, my next story, which is a sequel to Hunted, will be starting very soon!**

**Thanks for reading!**

** -Kromatick**


	2. Wing And A Prayer

**A/N: Oh. My. God. This was the single biggest pain in the ass to write ever. The only reason I went through with this was because I felt I had to explain Marshall's appearance, and look where it got me! Ugh, anyway, it's done now, and that's all that matters. With this out of the way, I can finally start my new story! Wooooo! Although, I've been incredibly busy lately, so I might be a bit slow. Just bear with me! :)**

**Read on, and I hope you enjoy.**

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"If an injury has to be done to a man, it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared."

-Niccolo Machiavelli

* * *

Marshall very slowly but surely made his way back into consciousness. He waited for a few seconds as his senses came back to him. He felt that he was lying down flat out, on hard ground. The only sounds he could hear were the ones he made along with a low, humming noise. He opened his eyes to take in his surroundings. He didn't like what he saw.

As he sat up, he looked all around him, surveying the room he was in. He was in what appeared to be a cell that was about four metres long and four metres wide. The walls were made of grey metal, with a yellow Hyperion logo painted on the back wall. Marshall groaned when he saw the Hyperion logo. He figured he knew where he was now. If he was to guess, he'd say he was in one of the only Hyperion facilities on Eden-6.

There were no other pieces of furniture to grab on to, so Marshall pushed himself off the ground with his arms and stood up. He looked down himself and saw that he was still wearing all the same clothes he had been in beforehand.

The last thing Marshall remembered was being taken away by two Hyperion guards. He had been with Koen-

_"Shit, Koen,"_ Marshall thought to himself, as he ran a hand through his hair, _"I doubt he's in a much better position than I am. I wonder if he's even here?"_

Marshall hoped, for Koen's sake, that he was somewhere else.

Then, not a minute after waking up, the door to Marshall's cell opened to reveal two rusting Hyperion loaders. Marshall tilted his head and took a step back as the loaders entered the room. He continued to walk backwards and the loaders kept progressing until they had backed him into the corner. The loaders then stopped and stood perfectly still in front of him.

"Subject #24169, you will come with us for testing," One of the loaders said in a robotic voice.

"Testing?" Marshall frowned, "Hell no!"

Both robots raised their weapons and pointed them at Marshall's face.

"Subject #24169, you will come with us for testing," The same robot repeated in the exact same voice.

Marshall didn't really have a choice at that moment. It was either a bullet to the face or go with them to this testing thing. He decided he would take his chances with the testing.

"Well okay then," Marshall replied, faking enthusiasm, "Lead the way."

Marshall reached up and tapped the top of the robot a few times, before the other robot reached over and clamped a metal hand around his arm. The robot's grip was so tight that Marshall thought his arm was going to be crushed.

"Agh! Fuck!" Marshall shouted, "Alright, alright, I'm coming!"

Still the robot did not let go. Instead, it half walked-half dragged Marshall towards the door. The other robot trailed behind as they made their way out of the cell. They took a right after exiting the cell and pushed Marshall down a long hallway.

As they walked down the long hallway, Marshall began to notice that the facility wasn't as well kept as he expected. Lights flickered above his head and broken glass littered the floor in places. Marshall thought this was strange, considering Hyperion was a successful mega corporation. He shrugged this off and instead focused on how he was going to get out of here. He couldn't see an obvious way out, but he did not like the sound of testing at all. Could he overpower two big robots with guns? Probably not. Could he even find a way out of the facility if he did? Once again, probably not.

Suddenly, the loaders grabbed Marshall again and threw him through and open door to the right. It caught him completely off guard and he ended up on the floor. He quickly scrambled back to his feet and turned around to see that the two loaders had now entered the room and were now blocking his only exit. Cursing his luck, Marshall slowly turned around to take a look at the room he was in. It looked to be some sort of surgeon's room, though Marshall wondered why any sort of prison would need one of them. Maybe this wasn't a prison…

Like the hallway that he had walked up to get here, this room was quite wrecked as well. The lights flickered on and off every few seconds. The ground was covered with a mix of red and purple liquids, and there was a steady drip of water falling from the roof onto the ground.

"Oh, another test subject. Fabulous," A man in a long white coat said. The man was facing away from Marshall, but from what he could tell, he fit right in with the atmosphere of the facility. His white coat was dirty and shabby, and the jeans he wore were ripped.

The man turned around, holding a big empty syringe. He had messy, brown hair and wore a pair of thick glasses. Marshall guessed he was some kind of scientist. He looked like one, anyway.

"Put him over there," the scientist said to the two loaders, and gestured to the wall next to him.

The obedient loaders instantly obliged. They grabbed Marshall's arms again and dragged him over to the wall. No matter how much Marshall struggled, he couldn't pull away from the loaders. The loaders flung him into the wall. As soon as he smacked into the wall, he tried making a run for it. However, before he could even make a move, two streams of electricity shot out from seemingly nowhere and closed around his wrists and legs. He struggled against the electricity for a few seconds before giving up. He looked left and right, studying the things that were keeping him in place. They were strange, they acted like ropes, but appeared to be made out of pure electricity. Marshall looked up and glared at the scientist, who was now walking towards him with a grin on his face.

"Stop struggling," he ordered, "I've never seen anyone break through them and I don't expect to."

The scientist then walked to the side over to a set of computers and began pushing loads of buttons. While the scientist did this, Marshall leaned his head back on the wall and realised just how screwed he was. He had no idea what this guy was going to do, but Marshall was completely at his mercy. He thought about Koen again and let out a sigh. Although it was dawning on him how bad the situation was, he found himself laughing slightly.

"Well, we really fucked up this time, didn't we?" Marshall muttered to himself quietly. He would have given anything for Koen to have heard that.

The scientist glanced away from his computer screens and back to Marshall. "Did you say something?" he asked.

"Nope," Marshall replied calmly.

The scientist raised and eyebrow and walked over to Marshall. The scientist narrowed his eyes as he got close up to Marshall's face.

"You're not scared at all, are you?" The scientist asked sceptically.

Marshall laughed straight in the man's face. "Scared? I've seen things you wouldn't believe, and you expect me to be afraid of a middle aged man in a ridiculous lab coat? Sorry, but you're gonna have to try a little harder than that."

The scientist frowned in response and took a step back, surprised at what he was hearing. "You really have no idea where you are, huh?"

"Haven't the slightest idea," Marshall replied confidently with a gentle grin.

There was a short a silence as the scientist nodded his head slightly.

"This isn't just a prison," he explained, picking up a syringe that contained a dark purple liquid, "It's also a testing facility."

The man put the syringe in the grasp of an arm-like mechanism that was attached to the wall next to Marshall's shoulder.

"Here, we test slag, a by-product of the alien element Eridium, on human subjects, and see what kind of results we get."

Marshall thought about this for a second. He had no idea what Eridium or slag was, so he wasn't quite sure how bad they were.

"Sounds like fun," Marshall grinned back.

The scientist gave Marshall another frown, before placing a second syringe of purple liquid in another robot arm on the other side of him. With that done, the scientist made his way back over to his computers and continued typing away.

"I would like to point out that you have a twenty per cent chance of surviving this procedure," The scientist said, not looking up from his computer.

"I like those odds," Marshall laughed.

The scientist simply couldn't get over Marshall's laid back attitude to the whole situation. Usually, the subjects would be screaming or crying at this point, yet here Marshall was, without a care in the world. The scientist just guessed that he was showing that he wasn't afraid.

"Well, here we go," The scientist muttered, and pulled a big lever jutting out from the control panel. Once he pulled the lever, the room was filled with a loud whirring noise. Marshall looked left and right as the two metal claws slid along the wall closer to him.

Suddenly, there was a loud zapping sound as one of the beams of electricity let off a huge spark. The equipment in the room looked as though it could fall apart any moment. If luck was on Marshall's side, they'd give in this time.

The metal arm on Marshall's ride suddenly shot downwards, plunging the syringe into Marshall's shoulder. The purple liquid quickly drained from the syringe and into his bloodstream. At that moment, all of Marshall's confidence vanished and fear settled in. The pain of the liquid moving through him was way too much to bear. He let out a loud scream and looked to his right to see the veins in his arm turning a dark purple as the liquid flowed through them.

Marshall had no idea what this crazy scientist was pumping into him, but it hurt like hell, whatever it was. Marshall could only focus on the immense pain that was flowing through him. Marshall turned his head to see the scientist looking back and forth between the electrical beams that were holding Marshall up, and his computer screen, a look of genuine worry showing on his face. The scientist then began bashing the side of the computer desperately, as if trying to fix something somehow. Marshall's brain was way too preoccupied to realise that there was something wrong with the electronics.

Marshall couldn't get Koen out of his head. He kept thinking about him. If Marshall was going to die, he wanted to at least know where Koen was. Although, it looked like he wasn't going to get that opportunity.

Then, the beams of electricity began to flicker. Marshall turned his head to look at them. He watched them as they flickered and moved, willing them to shut down and save him from this torture. He felt the beams becoming weaker, and found that he could move his arms a little easier than a few seconds ago. He then realised he had at least some hope of escape. Summoning whatever strength he had left, he pulled forward with both of his arms. The beams extended with this arms but he found that the further he pulled, the easier it was to move. With one final push, he threw his whole body forward, and sure enough, the beams of electricity flickered one last time before disappearing completely. Marshall's own momentum carried him forward and he fell on to the ground. Still tensing from the pain, he shakily pushed himself up off the ground. He turned to face the scientist, who was shaking and looking back at Marshall, fear in his eyes.

Marshall slowly began to stumble towards the scientist, but just as he got within a few feet of him, the scientist pulled out a yellow Hyperion pistol.

"Don't take another step! You hear me?! Not another step!" The scientist panicked.

Marshall only laughed at the man's terror and continued walking towards him, raising his arms slightly. A smile broke out across Marshall's face as he got closer and closer to the scientist. Marshall kept walking until his chest touched the barrel of the pistol. The scientist's hands were shaking like crazy, but he still did not fire. Marshall figured he'd never murdered someone in cold blood before.

After a few seconds of tense silence, Marshall decided it was time to act. Marshall quickly brought his left hand up and pushed the man's hand and the pistol upwards. The man fired reflexively but the bullet just shot up into the ceiling. Then Marshall, with his free hand, punched the scientist full force in the face. There was a satisfying crack as the man's nose exploded into blood. However, the punch was more powerful than even Marshall expected, as the man crumpled backwards, unconscious.

"Heh. Sorry about that," Marshall grinned weakly, as he bent down to pick up the pistol that had fallen to the ground. "Right, time to get the hell out of here."

Marshall turned and headed for the door. The loaders that had escorted him in here were nowhere to be seen. He leaned against the door and pushed it open just enough for him to see out into the hallway. He didn't see anyone on that side, so he guessed it was safe enough. He pushed the door open fully and stepped out, looking left for people. When he didn't see anyone, he began to walk quickly down the hallway. He looked all around him, keeping an eye out for any other people. He'd be screwed if he was caught now.

Suddenly, he heard of two men talking. He realised it was coming from far behind him, yet he still didn't turn back to look. Instead, opened a door to his right and ran instead, shutting the door behind him. He breathed a sigh of relief and then turned around to see where he was. He appeared to be in a stairwell. There were two sets of concrete steps, one going up, and one going down. After a brief moment of thought, he decided to take the stairs going up. He began running up the steps, which was pretty tough considering he was exhausted and still in pain. After two flights of steps, the stairs stopped, and a lone door stood in front of him. This time, instead of taking it carefully like last time, he crashed straight through the door. He was struck with bright sunlight the second he stumbled through. His hand shot up to his eyes to block out the beaming sun. He gave his eyes a second to adjust before looking around. It looked like he was on the roof of the facility.

He looked around again, before running over to the edge of the roof to get a better look around. Looking down, he guessed that it was under a ten metre drop on to the ground. There was also a tall, barbed wire fence around 2 metres away from the building.

It looked like the only way down and out of the facility was to jump. Marshall didn't find this very appealing, however. It'd be a miracle if he got down without breaking anything. Well, he was out of options at the moment, so that was a risk he was going to have to take. He could see that there was a road on the other side of the fence, with a space of grass between the fence and the road. Clearing the fence wasn't the problem, it was the landing. He figured his best course of action would be to aim for the grass and hope for the best.

"Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained…" he muttered to himself as he took a few steps back to get a good run-up.

He stopped for a second and took a deep breath, trying not to consider the consequences of what he was about to do. Instead of thinking about it for too long, he just went for it. He took off sprinting as fast as he could. He felt the wind pick up as he sprinted along the roof. He got closer and closer to the edge and he emptied his head of everything but the task at hand. He reached the edge and jumped.

The flight was much quicker than he expected. It only took a second or two to hit the ground. But when he did, he hit it hard. Gathering the last of his strength, he put all his effort into rolling as soon as he hit the ground. He managed to pull off the roll, so that all of the force didn't go straight to his legs. The pain was spread out all across his body, but it was a lot better than breaking something. He tried to stand straight up from the roll but, given his momentum, he ended up flying forwards and sliding along the ground.

He picked himself up off the ground, grunting from the pain. He looked around and saw that he saw clear of the facility. Though, he wasn't completely out of the woods yet. He had to get as far away from the facility as possible. He decided he would just follow the road and see where it went.

However, after five minutes of stumbling down a path, his vision began to fade and he felt himself becoming more and more weak. He felt as though he was going to collapse any second now, but he was determined not to let that happen. Every so often, he would catch himself drifting away, and jolt himself awake slightly.

Eventually, he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. He ended up simply collapsing. His vision faded and he was unconscious before he hit the ground.

* * *

This time, when Marshall woke up, he shot up suddenly and was instantly alert. He felt that he was sitting in a comfortable chair. It took him a few seconds to realise that he was inside some sort of car. As soon as he sat forward, a heavy hand pressed against his chest and pushed him back in his seat.

Marshall's eyes quickly followed up the arm of his possible attacker, until he got a good look at the man. The man had dark, brown hair and blue eyes, which were staring straight back at Marshall in a way that was friendly yet intimidating. Marshall tried to bring his fist up to punch the man, but the other guy was quicker. He grabbed Marshall's hand and pushed it downwards with surprising strength. Marshall slowly gave up as he realised that if the man wanted him dead, Marshall wouldn't be here.

"Woah, woah, relax," The man said, trying to calm Marshall down, "My name is Alex Martin, and, judging by the state you're in, you're lucky I found you. Even luckier that I stopped to help you."

Marshall stopped and stared back at the man, his head titled slightly. He recognised his voice from somewhere, he just couldn't place it. Marshall mentally kicked himself, he felt like he should have recognised the voice anywhere. He put his slow thought process down to his exhaustion levels and slight pain he was in.

"I don't even know why I stopped," the man said with a quick laugh, and looked out the front window of the car, "I mean, I guess anyone would."

The man sighed and looked back at Marshall. "So, you wanna start by telling me your name?"

It was then that Marshall finally recognised the voice. He couldn't believe he didn't notice it before.

"You- you were the one who ECHOed me and Koen to give us that job in the first place," Marshall said accusingly.

The man's eyes widened and he turned in his seat to face Marshall. "Are you… Marshall?" he asked.

Marshall swallowed hard before answering. "Yeah…"

"Jesus… I'm Alex. Alex Martin," he finally said.

"What are you doing here?" Marshall asked.

"Well, news about what happened to you boys reached me, and I felt awful when I heard it. I couldn't take being responsible for it, so I hauled my ass over here to see if there was anything I could do to help," Alex explained.

Marshall could feel himself becoming more tired once again, to the point where he could hardly keep his eyes open.

"Well…thanks…" Marshall managed to say, "Wait… did you find Koen?"

"Afraid not," Alex replied, looking away, "I've been on this planet about an hour."

"We… have to find him," Marshall muttered sleepily.

"And we will," Alex said, "But I have to get you somewhere safe first. I can get you to my house back on Eden-5, you'll be safe there."

Alex looked back at Marshall to find him passed out in the seat next to him. Alex laughed quietly and started up his car.

"Luck must follow these two around…" Alex mumbled.

* * *

And so, less than 2 days later, Marshall found himself on Eden-5, living with Alex and his wife. He told them he wasn't intending to stay long, especially with Koen still out there somewhere, but they told him to relax a few days, considering everything he'd been through. He explained to them everything that had happened to him and Koen in the last few days.

With every minute that passed, Marshall felt guilty about sitting there and doing nothing while his friend was God knows where. He tried not to think about what situation Koen was in, but he couldn't help himself.

To try and take his mind off things, Marshall decided to take a proper look around their house. He hadn't been there long enough to see all of it, he'd only arrived a few hours ago.

So, while Alex and his wife were upstairs, Marshall took a look around. He ended up in the kitchen and saw a door that led into room he hadn't been in. He walked up to the door and opened it, revealing an almost pitch-black room. He fumbled around for a light switch and eventually pressed it. The lights flickered on and Marshall found himself in what looked like either a garage or a workspace. Tools were strewn about all over the room, some on the floor, some on desks, and others hanging on the wall. Pieces of paper also littered a big, wooden workbench that was pushed against the wall. Marshall slowly walked over to take a look at the papers.

Marshall saw that each paper had designs for a different mechanical project. Be it repairs, or construction. Some showed some almost illegible plans, while others had detailed pictures of a complex looking robot. Each of the pictures of the robot had 'DT' scrawled on the top. Initially, Marshall thought this was Alex's garage, but when he saw small hearts dotting each piece of paper, he began to think differently.

"I see you found the garage," Alex said from behind Marshall, giving him a fright. Marshall dropped the sheet of paper he was holding and spun around, breathing a sigh of relief when he recognised Alex, who was standing in the doorway, smiling.

"Is, uh, this place yours?" Marshall asked after a second of silence.

"No, it's my daughter's actually," Alex explained, stepping down into the garage and walking over to the workbench. He picked up one of the plans for the robot and began scanning his eyes over it, looking increasingly sad.

"So, where is she?" Marshall said.

Alex took a while to respond, and when he did, his tone was sad and regretful.

"She's, ah, have you ever heard of Pandora?" Alex asked Marshall.

"Uh, no," Marshall replied.

"Well," Alex sighed, "It's the single most dangerous planet in this galaxy, overrun by bandits and hostile creatures."

"And your daughters there?" Marshall frowned.

Alex quickly glared down at Marshall, before looking back at the papers.

"Yeah, she is. She had to go there to escape police. She left a few weeks ago, and I haven't heard from her since." Alex said, sounding quite depressed.

"I'm sure she's fine…" Marshall said awkwardly, and put his hands in his pockets.

Alex didn't response, which created a long, awkward silence that Marshall was desperate to break.

Marshall allowed himself to laugh slightly. "Looks like we're both missing someone, huh?"

* * *

**A/N: Next stop, sequel! :D**


End file.
